36 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



greater even than the other, as nothing is more certainly- 

 disastrous than a slack line, and nothing more probable 

 than the occurrence of the contingency referred to when 

 fish have to be followed rapidly over broken ground. 

 These are radical faults — vices would not be too strong a 

 term — inherent in the principle of all "plain" reels, and 

 inseparable from them. 



They are, however, entirely obviated by the cJtcck 

 system ; and check reels should therefore be the only 

 ones ever employed for any kind of heavy fishing, 

 whether with bait or fly. With this reel the line is 

 entirely independent of the hand, by which indeed it is 

 very seldom desirable that it should be touched in any 

 way. All that the hands have to do is to keep the point 

 of the rod well up, and a steady strain on the fish ; and 

 eyes and attention are thus left free to take care of their 

 owner's neck — a practical advantage which those who 

 have chased a salmon down the cragg'd and slippery 

 channel of a Highland river, or a strong Pike along the 

 margin of a Hampshire '* Water Meadow" will know 

 how to appreciate. A check winch, in fact, does two- 

 thirds of the fisherman's work for him, and may almost 

 be left to kill by itself ; it acts upon the golden rule of 

 never giving an inch of line unless it is taken, and when 

 really required pays it out smoothly and rapidly to the 

 exact extent necessary, and no more. The even check 

 prevents the line "over running" itself in the one case, 

 or sticking fast in the other ; and when it becomes 



